Ecological Debt

The living standard of the industrialised "Northern" countries owes a great deal to the massive flow of natural resources and work (either as slave or underpaid labour) of the countries which make up the "Third World", Southern or developing countries of Africa, Latin America and Asia. The recompense paid by Northern countries to Southern countries has never taken into account the social and environmental damage caused by this exploitation. In effect, the impoverished countries of the South have subsidised and are continuing to subsidise the rich countries of the North through the provision of raw materials, commodities and labour. The current economic situation entrenches these forms of exploitation through mechanisms such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and World Trade Organisation (WTO) which dictate global economic policies that maintain these systems of dominance through the mechanisms which have become better understood through the campaign to cancel External Debt.

Ecological Debt refers to "the cumulative responsibility of industrialised countries for the gradual destruction of the planet caused by their production & consumption patterns". Natural wealth extracted by the North at the expense of Southern people has contaminated their natural heritage and sources of sustenance. Ecological Debt also includes the cost of the human energy of the people of the Southern countries.

The relationship between External Debt and Ecological Debt has two main aspects. Firstly, there is the claim to Ecological Debt, which involves accounting for exports undervalued, due to not taking into account associated environmental and social costs. The second is that servicing External Debts, and fulfilling Structural Adjustment Plans (SAPs) leads to even greater destruction of the environment, due to the demands for increased export of natural resources which requires further exploitation of the environment and an increasing reliance on these types of production models.